Method of evaporating solutions to obtain a constant density concentrate



July 30, 1957 P. HoNlG ETAT. f 2,300,955

METHOD OF EVAPORATINO CONOENTRATE SOLUTIONS TO OBTAIN A CONSTANT DENSITY Filed April 22, 1952 mdDmmmmm AGENTS United; AStates Patent METHD F EVAPRATNG SOLUTIONS T0 B- TAIN A CONSTANT DENSITY CONCENTRATE Pieter Honig, Elmsford, N. Y., and Jap Kie Ling, Malang, indonesia Application April 22, 1952, Serial No. 283,690 Claims priority, application Netherlands April 26, 1951 Claims. (Cl. 159-47) The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for a manual, semi-automatic or fully automatic regulation of a simple or multiple effect evaporation, with or without removall of vapor, the apparatus including a pre-evaporator or so-called Pauly-body, for the evaporation of solutions, such as sugar-juice, fruit juice, salt-solutions, glue-solutions etc., to obtain an evaporated solution of constant density, in which the incrustation which occurs in the course of the manufacture has no in uence on the quality of the regulation, but only limits the evaporating' capacity. Y

Many attempts have been made already so to regulate the evaporation of a solution, such as thin juice, that an evaporated solution (thick juice) of constant density is obtained. The rst attempts were aimed at establishing the mostrfavorable juice levels in the evaporating bodies with the help of the testing outcomes of Claassen and Kerr.

Subsequently, several manufactuers have tried to regulate the steam or vapor supply by keeping the vaporpressure constant in the rst, second or third body, for example in Storks Area installation. The contemplated object to draw off thick juice of constant density from the last body was attained only partly.

The Taylor Instrument Company, see Sugar by Camp below, is one of the rst, that has realised a really fully automatic regulation of a multiple-effect evaporation in which the operation is based on regulating the Y thick-juice draining valve and on the automatic juice level regulation in all bodies, that nally atects the steam supply to the first body or the vapor flow in the suitable vapor connecting-pipe; This system however has the disadvantage, that the right operation is made conditional on a comparatively large number of governor cranks connected in series and on a concentration-meter, which reacts only slowly to the adjustment of the thick juice `and steam valves, resulting in a slow action and a great chance of disturbances.

In Sugar (lune 1950, page 26) an evaporationregulation has been mentioned by A. C. Camp, in which the position of the steam valve before the steam drum of the tirst body is brought into line with the position of a hypsometer in the thin juice tank, before evaporation. According to the outline given, however, with equal position of the hypsometer, or the steam-valve, juice ow and steam supply are affected by the prevalent pressure in the juice space, or steam drum, of the iirst body and by the pressure of the heating steam. Moreover it starts from the connection between steam expenditure and thin juice ow (optimum steam-juice ratio), which is simple in a purely multiple effect evaporation, but can practically not be used in variably removing vapor and pre-connection of a Pauly-body.

According to the invention, sugar juice is obtained for example by starting from the invariably simple relationship between thin juice quantity, that passes per timeunit, and the quantity of water to be evaporated per Patented July 30, 1957 time-unit, to obtain thick juice of desired density from a variable thin juice ilow of variable density. It the quantity of thin juice per second is Gdns, With a density bdns, and if thick juice is desired with a density bdks percent briX, the following formula will hold good, when the quantity of thick juice obtained per second is Gdks:

The quantity of water to be evaporated per second=W, then comes to:

W: Gdns Gdks or the ratio of the weight rate of liow of thin juice per second to the weight of water evaporated per second:

k Values bdks bdns According to the invention every moment the quantity of thin juice (solution) and the briX of it, that iiows per time-unit to the evaporator, is measured, together with the quantity of evaporated water (condensate), in order so to regulate the supply of steam with a prescribed brix of thick juice, the desired ratio k is realised. The adjustment of the steam supply can be done: (l) by manual adjustment; (2) automatically, by means ot a ow-ratio-controller of known manufacture, whereby the ratio-value can be corrected or not by the indication of a thin-juice-briX-meter.

The evaporation is directed in such a way, that, independent of the vacuum or the state of sedimentation on the heating-surfaces etc., the desired degree of density is guaranteed beforehand. if for example the sedimentation on the evaporatingbodies causes less water to be evaporated, this will be noticeable in the measured quantity of evaporated solvent (condensate) per timeunit. Through this, a deviation would arise with respect to the Iadjusted coefficient k. Such deviation is prevented, hecause the steam-valve is opened more by means of the ow-ratio-controller. The measurement of the quantity of thin juice, which ows to the evaporator per time-unit, and also the brix of it, can be done according to one ofthe known and approved measuring methods.

The present invention is aimed at a practical method of measurement of the quantity of condensate including the measurement of steam or vapor. In this case meters Vare appliedin all vapor pipes.

' ing meter.

In a pure multiple' effeet evaporation, without bleeding vapor from the system, the condensateV of the second body Vcan be taken as a standard and isV equalV to the totalV vaporrelease in that body.4 -ithe evaporation is p-foldg'it may be .supposed approximately, that the .quantity of Vevaporated Water=p timesquantity of vcondensate-.of the second body. If a ratio-regulatoris chosen for the ratiozV of the quantity of thin juicer to theY condensate of V the second body, then a must be p timesk. 1t isnot necessary for the measurement to use the full quantity of condensate of a body, but it will do tobranch off e, g. o r 5% of it. In this case 'a measuring-flange or a measuring partition with l() equal openings can be placed irithe'pipe and the liquid from one or more openings is conducted int-o venience of measuring to apply an approximative',

method.-

First thin juice is preheated in a preheater H to the same temperature as the juice in the pre-evaporator P or in the first body I of the evaporator. In such a case it can be supposed approximately` for the pre-evaporator P and for the bodies I to V of the multiple-etect-system, that-l kilogram of vapor arises from 1 kilogram of condensed heating-steamV (or vapor).VY

In the accompanying drawing an evaporating-outline is given schematically by way of example.

1 represents an indicating or registering flow rate meter for the quantity of thin juice, that ows to the evaporator per time-unit; 2 a thin juice density ow rate meter; 3 a condensate meter; 4 a thin juice thermo-impulse donor;

.Vapor.release means the total vapor removed from any evaporator body as identified at d-j-D in the drawing.

It the vapor bled per second fromV some evaporator body is d, the weight quantity of the vaporper second o1' vapor transferred from that body to the next evaporator body is D, and the condensate per second in the steambelt or Calandria of the lirst mentioned evaporator is c, then we may put as a rough approximation that the weights of all vapors released vper second is equal to the weight of condensed steam (condensate) per second, remembering, of course, that the condensate formed in the calandria is approximately equal to the total vapor released in the body. Y

Now the weight of all vapor released per second-is d-I-D, the weight of the condensate obtained per second is c, thus d-j-D=c. second and all following evaporator bodies; thus YWe have:

' If thereare "n evaporator bodies, we have for the last body There is generally no vapor bled from the last Ybody and all vapor is led or transferred tothe condenser, so we have:

Y dn=0, and D1L=C1L Y j .rated per second W is:

5 a pressure-impulse donor; 6 a thick juice density meter;

'7 are condensate pumps; 8 the thin juice valve; 9 the steam valve of the preheatergrl the condensate outlet pipe; 11 are stop-valves in the liquid-carrying pipes between the bodies; 12 is a vapor pipe of the pre-evaporator; 13, 14, 15and 16 are vapor pipes'between the densate pipes and dotted lines indicate control-impulse lines. Further H is a preheater, P is a pre-evaporator and I, Il, III, IV and V are the bodies of a multiple effect evaporator. SV is a Waste steam valve to the liquid heater H. S1 is a fresh steam valve tok the pre-evaporator P. S2 is a fresh steam Valve to the rst evaporatorevaporator body I. R1 is a waste steam valve to the pre-evaporator body P. Rz is a Waste steamvalve to the first evaporator body I. Y

To distinguish'the various vapor movements in the evaporator systems to which the invention pertains the following terminology has been adopted:

Vapor bled means the vapor removed from the evaporator system as identied at d in the drawing.

Vapor transferred means the vapor transported from one evaporatorV body in Va multiple evaporator system to the next evaporator body as Yidentified at D in the Vdrawing.

:dpi-sum d-l-sum D We have obtained:

This being the simplest method, according to the invention, the condensate of the pre-evaporator. and the condensates of the multiple-effect, or proportional parts of it are joined, and the sum is substituted for the quantity ofV evaporated-water, which must be in the given 4ratio to lthe quantity of thin juice per time-unit. Y

When the lluctuations in the thin juice flow and th Mthin juicedensity are `not too large, the steam supply valve R2 .to the steam drum of the evaporator body I can be adjusted by hand, so that the desired ratio of lthe quantity-of thin juice per time kunit to evaporated solvent (water) rises or is maintained. A practical solution is then Vto indicate total quantity of vapor released per unit` time by means of meters mor the quantity of condensate,

Y Vusingrthe xdesired ratio directly-on the graduated scale ment' of the quantities of thin juice and condensate are inthe conformable quantity of thin juice. When the graduation jsrindicated as a band, the inuence of the thin juice density on the ratio can be expressed.. By applyingV e. g. threebands, it will be possible to adjust on a thickV juice density of 60, 65 Vor 70 brix.

vIncase of more Vfrequent fluctuations or when a techlnically better Vresultisdesired, the vvalues of measure- This rule is valid for the first, the

-used as an impulse for a ratio regulating apparatus of known-manufacture (A), which may also be provided with an automatic device, for regulating the given ratio dependent on the thinjuice density; this regulating apparatus establishes the desired ratio by adjusting the steam supply valve R2 tothe first body of the evaporator. According to the invention this valve is manufactured in such a manner, that after fully opening the low pressure valve R2, automatically a second high-pressure-valve S2 is opened; in the highest position of the combined valve a light, sound, or other sort of signal is given, as a sign that the limit ofthe evaporating-capacity has been reached or surpassed. If necessary this signal can automatically reduce or fully close the thin juice iiow at the same time.

If desired, the indication given by thin juice density meter Z can be used to correct automatically the given ratio by correcting the ratio regulator in regard to the iluctuating thin juice density. The adjustment to the desired thick-juice-density is done by hand.

In practice the thin juice pre-heater H is operated automatically by a temperature regulator 4 and the preevaporator or Pauly-body by a pressure-regulator 5, while the most favorable juice level in the bodies is adjusted by hand or by one of the known level regulators.

When for the desired thick juice density the evaporating capacity is surpassed, throttling of the thin juice flow can be discontinued by adjusting to a lower thick juice density.

The device according to this invention consists in the application of dilerent meters in the manufacture:

First, meter 1 for measuring the quantity of passing solution (thin or dilute juice) to the evaporator per timeunit, or a predetermined fraction of it.

Secondly, meter 2 for determining the thin juice density.

Thirdly, meter 3 for measuring the obtained total condensate from pre-evaporator and evaporating bodies, or a predetermined fraction of it, per time-unit.

In case the condensates from the pre-evaporator and from the evaporator bodies are not measured, but the quantities of vapor released per time-unit from the above mentioned bodies are measured (d-j-D), including the vapor from the last evaporator body V to the condenser C, the necessary ow rate meters in the respective vapor lines are installed.

In a pure multiple evaporation, without pre-evaporator, i. e. without vapor bleeding, the measuring of the quantity of condensate per time unit from one evaporator body is suticient as a simplification.

The ow-rate-meters in question may or may not be connected to a ow-ratio-controller, depending upon whether hand operation, semi-automatic operation or fully automatic operation is desired.

Flow-ratio-controller A regulates the quantity of steam per time unit through steam valve R2 to the evaporator body I, in such a manner that the pre-determined ratio between the ow rate of dilute or thin juice and the ow rate of condensate is maintained at any moment, thus assuring that the thick or concentrated juice leaves the last evaporator body with the prescribed density (percent brix). If the ow rate of thin juice increases, dow-ratiocontroller A automatically opens steam valve R2; if the ow rate of thin juice decreases, iloW-ratio-controller A automatically closes steam valve R2.

If the ow rate of thin juice is too great with respect to the evaporating capacity of the evaporating equipment, ow-ratio-controller A keeps steam valve R2 in its most open position, but nevertheless the ratio between the flow rate of thin juice and the flow rate of condensate will be too high. The density of thick juice will drop below the prescribed value and the evaporator equipment will be overloaded. Overloading occurs if the flow rate of thin juice is far -too high, or if the evaporating capacity has decreased on account of scaling of the heating surfaces. If, in case of overload we want to maintain the prescribed density of thick juice, the ow rate of thin juice must be reduced. For this purpose, thin juice valve 8 .islcor-y nected by airline 19 to the steam` valve-combinations: and R2. 'Ihin juice valve is throttl'ed so long as'valve- R'z is in its highest position and thin juice flow. rate is so much reduced that the ratio between thin juiceiiow rate and condensation ow rate is restored to the predetermined value. The automatic adjustment of steam valve R2 by iloW-ratio-controller A is restored, but at a reduced feed of thin juice.

In the special case Where only one body takes care of the`evaporation, it is clear that only the steam supply to this body is regulated according to the ow rate of thin juice to this body. lIn the case of a simple eect evaporator, containing only one body, the automatic regulator A regulates the supply of steam to this body, still by means of steam valve R2.

What we claim is:

l. The method of obtaining' a concentrated liquid solution of constant predetermined density from dilute stock, which comprises supplying a regulated amount of evaporating heat to the dilute stock in a multiple evaporator system having a plurality of evaporator bodies Without a preheater to remove solvent therefrom, automatically recording both the quantity of dilute stock treated per unit of time and the total quantity of Vapor released from one of said evaporator bodies per unit of time in order to maintain a predetermined ratio between said measured quantities, and automatically increasing said regulated amount of heat in accordance with increases in said predetermined ratio to compensate for said increases and decreasing said regulated amount of heat to compensate for decreases in said ratio.

2. The method of obtaining a concentrated liquid solution of constant predetermined density from dilute stock, which comprises supplying to the dilute stock a regulated amount of evaporating heat per unit of time to remove solvent therefrom, the heat being in an amount to maintain a predetermined ratio between the quantity of dilute stock treated per unit of time and the total quantity of vapor released per unit of time, and increasing said regulated amount of heat in accordance with increases in said predetermined ratio to compensate for said increases and decreasing said regulated amount of heat to compensate for decreases in said ratio.

3. The method of obtaining a concentrated liquid solution of constant predetermined -density from dilute stock, which comprises supplying evaporating heat to the dilute stock in a multiple evaporator having a plurality of evaporator bodies to remove solvent therefrom, the heat being in an amount to maintain a predetermined ratio between the quantity of dilute stock treated per unit of time and the total quantity of vapor released per unit of time, automatically recording both the quantity of dilute stock treated per unit of time and the total quantity of vapor released from all the evaporator bodies per unit of time, and automatically increasing said regulated amount of heat in accordance with increases in said predetermined ratio to compensate for said increases and decreasing said regulated amount of heat to compensate for decreases in said ratio.

4. The method of obtaining a concentrated liquid solution of constant predetermined density from dilute stock, which comprises supplying evaporating heat to the dilute stock to remove solvent therefrom, the heat being in an amount to maintain a predetermined ratio between the quantity of dilute stock treated per unit of time and the total quantity of vapor released per unit of time, separating a predetermined fraction from the total quantity of dilute stock treated per unit of time, recording the quantity of said predetermined fraction, separating a similar fraction from the total quantity of vapor released per unit of time, recording the quantity of said similar fraction, and automatically increasing said regulated amount of heat in accordance with increases in said predetermined ratio to compensate for said increases and Y theV quantityof said dilute stock treated per unitv of Ytime t to compensate for losses` in heat transmssionrcaused by 5 vscaling and fouling of the heatedsurfaces.

Y Refereces'fCited 111 the V111e of 'thisp'tent-/IV Y y UNITED, STATES PATENTS A 559,857 Linie 1 YMay12, 1896 1 

1. THE METHOD OF OBTAINING A CONCENTRATED LIQUID SOLUTION OF CONSTANT PREDETERMINED DENSITY FROM DILUTE STOCK, WHICH COMPRISES SUPPLYING A REGULATED AMOUNT OF EVAPORATING HEAT TO THE DILUTE STOCK IN A MULTIPLE EVAPORATOR SYSTEM HAVING A PLURALITY OF EVAPORATOR BODIES WITHOUT A PREHEATER TO REMOVE SOLVENT THEREFROM, AUTOMATICALLY RECORDING BOTH THE QUANTITY OF DILUTE STOCK TREATED PER UNIT OF TIME AND THE TOTAL QUANTITY OF VAPOR RELEASED FROM ONE OF SAID EVAPORATOR BODIES PER UNIT OF TIME IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN A PREDETEMINED RATIO BETWEEN SAID MEASURED QUANTITIES, AND AUTOMATICALLY INCREASING SAID REGULATED AMOUNT OF HEAT IN ACCORDANCE WITH INCREASES IN SAID PREDETERMINED RATIO TO COMPENSATE FOR 